Latest news with #invertebrate
BBC News
20 hours ago
- Science
- BBC News
Australian moth uses starlight to travel thousands of miles
Scientists have discovered what they say is the first known invertebrate that uses the sky for long distance navigation.A species of Australian moth, called the bogong moth, uses the light from the stars and the Milky Way to find its way through the summer the insects travel more than 600 miles from the east coast of the country to find cooler have now discovered that they can use the Earth's magnetic field like a compass, or sat nav, to stay on track during their journey. What did scientists discover? Until now, only humans and certain species of birds and seals were thought to be able to use starlight to navigate long it seems a species of Australian month can be added to that moths, are a small species of moth, around three centimetres long, which are named after the Indigenous Australian word for year, when temperatures start rising, they set off on a long night-time flight across the fly from their home on Australia's eastern coast to the cool inland shelter of caves in the Australian Alps.A study published in the journal Nature has found that these small insects can also use the light from the stars and our galaxy, the Milky Way, to find their way through the dark skies. An international team of researchers put some Bogong moths in an enclosure and projected different maps of the night sky onto its then removed the effect of Earth's magnetic field and to their surprise the moths were still able to find the right direction by using the when they rotated the sky 180 degrees, the moths changed their flight to follow along. When scientists then projected weird, incorrect maps of the night sky, the moths became of the study, Eric Warrant from Sweden's Lund University, said: "This is the first invertebrate that's known to be able to use the stars for that purpose."The researchers also believe that near to the end of the moths' long migration, they start noticing clues they are getting close to their mountain Warrant added he has identified a specific smell which comes from the smell "seems to act as a navigational beacon right at the very end of the journey," he added.
The Independent
07-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Mystery solved as huge carnivorous snail filmed laying an egg from its neck
The strange reproductive habits of a large, carnivorous New Zealand snail were shrouded in mystery - until now. New shocking footage of the snail laying an egg from its neck has been filmed for the first time. What looks like a tiny hen's egg is seen emerging from an opening below the head of the Powelliphanta augusta snail. The video was taken at a facility on the South Island 's West Coast. Powelliphanta augusta are hermaphrodites, which explains how the creatures can reproduce when encased in a hard shell. The invertebrate uses a genital pore on the right side of its body to simultaneously exchange sperm with another snail. The egg can take more than a year to hatch.
